Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Paris plaques that caught my eye

rue de l'Odéon

Thomas Paine . . . lived here from 1797 - 1802

"When opinions are free, the force of truth always comes out on top"

From the statue of Jules Ferry (1832 - 1893) in the Tuileries - paid for by public subscription of one sou from each of millions of children in the secular schools of France.
He is known for his promotion of non-religious education, and also for supporting French colonial expansion.

rue de Sévigné,

One I didn't photograph, but which is representative of many shadows of the second world war, is on the wall of the Ecole des Hospitalières-Saint-Gervais. In translation -

"165 Jewish children from this school, deported to Germany during the second world war, were exterminated in the Nazi camps. Do not forget."